I created this blog to record our RV trips; it morphed into what's happening, life in our retirement lane, what's on my mind and telling my tales of life aka my outlet for writing. I have almost totally migrated to Facebook where I communicate daily, instantly with family/friends all over the country and world. COPYWRIGHT NOTICE: All photos, stories, writings on this blog are the property of myself, Patricia Morrison and may not be used, copied, without my permission most often freely given.

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Saturday, April 30, 2016

Oh look out, trouble ahead for the likes of me. I have always been fidgety, I guess today they would diagnose me with Attention Deficit Disorder. My relatives lovingly referred to it as having ants in my pants, I fidgeted, especially when in church--mass was in Latin or Polish, and a child like me paid little attention, sitting still and absorbing was not something I practiced. Back then my grandma never would have thought of bringing along a book to distract me or a toy, no sirree, I was to be at mass and that was that. Today, I can get easily distracted, for example when I set out to tackle a domestic chore and navigate to the computer, or even my tablet, checking Facebook or any number of things. Or when I am trying to sort out old photos, discarding most because why keep them? I find I can begin to browse, thinking about when this or that happened. Pretty soon hours have gone by and I have accomplished little outside my head. This was supposed to be a project for me this winter when we did not snowbird, I would sort out the room wide mess I have downstairs to discard old photos. I have made very minimal progress. Fortunately this room is downstairs and not needed so not used and that allows me to keep the mess out. I used to search for photos for something on Ancestry, to post or whatever so I began to just leave them spread out, why have to pack away and unpack. So there is the mess.

Just today I was catching up waiting for a load of laundry to finish and went on to reading on the Elderly Blog, http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2016/04/crabby-old-lady-and-the-internet-of-junk.htmlThere was a comment about attention spans growing shorter, that a gold fish has a longer attention span. Wow! One of my bosses once told me I had the attention span of a cocker spaniel, which had me bust out in laughter, but he was right. It served me well in career days, multi tasking worked to my benefit then. Not so much today, I start and can wander off elsewhere especially if the task I began is not appealing to me. Here's the blog writer's comments: "The Telegraph reported
earlier this year:

"According to scientists, the age of
smartphones has left humans with such a short attention span even a goldfish
can hold a thought for longer.

"Researchers surveyed 2,000 participants in Canada and studied the brain
activity of 112 others using electroencephalograms.

"The results showed the average human attention span has fallen from 12
seconds in 2000, or around the time the mobile revolution began, to eight
seconds.

"Goldfish, meanwhile, are believed to have an attention span of nine
seconds."

Did
you get that? Goldfish for god's sake" Reading this statistic and relating because I enjoy using my smart phone or tablet and posting fast to Facebook, I could see trouble ahead. For someone like me, with a life history of attention span shortages, what is next?

Thursday, October 31, 2013

The phone rang as I was checking one last thing on the computer, right afterwards I'd venture out into this grey dreary day for a walk. I have nearly conquered this cold that has bothered me a few days and am really missing my physical activities while my body demanded a couple days rest to recover. We are waiting word from a roofer and the contractor who did our addition in 2007 about a seeping in the roof line over the guest bedroom, that happened some time ago, we are not sure when but noticed a spot on the ceiling when we had the windows washed this month. Lots of things going on, but I am used to juggling many things at once, being a multi tasker driven sort while Jerry is a one thing at a time no rush kind of guy. I might have known it would be this kind of a day when I immediately began to gather clothes for a washer load, as I walked out to the kitchen this AM. Usually I first get a big glass of water, take my meds, and make a cuppa, but with the cold and sore throat I've resumed hot tea instead, likely I am lacking caffeine alertness. As soon as I answered the phone and heard Barb, the dental hygienist who cleans my teeth every six months say, "Pat I expected to see you an hour ago?", I shreiked "OH NO" I completely forgot my dental appointment which might not sound like that big of a deal but it is bugging me. I had to call their office to confirm this appointment a couple weeks ago; it was on my calendars on my tablet and smart phone, neither of which I use much or look at while at home and it was on the kitchen calendar which I walk by mindlessly entering the kitchen. Jerry sits right near the calendar reading the daily newspaper with his morning coffee and usually looks at it and can remind me of things but he said nothing today either. Well Barb laughed to hear I had just flat blanked out and said, "senior moment?" Because I never miss my appointments, she called to be sure I was alright. We rescheduled for a couple of weeks from now and I circled the day in red on the kitchen calendar....now I have to look at it. I Googled and reaffirmed what I have learned that such things can just happen; here's a link to interesting info on a Psychology today website. http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/p/forgetting.htm

Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve and Study

Forgetting like this or being absolutely mindless may seem no big deal, but to me whose Mom had Alzheimer's, I worry. I think many of us aging pre and baby boomers worry about dementia, memory loss, and certainly the big A more than other generations. We have seen more of it and are more aware. Jerry shrugged and counseled, "well it's not fatal, no one died, go on about your day, be happy." I did leave for my walk, out into the misty grey to clear my cobwebs and I started to hum "don't worry, be happy" the old Bobby McFerrin . Released in September 1988, it
became the first a cappella song to reach number one on the Billboard 100 chart, a position it held for two weeks. It was a philosophy I never quite adopted but here it came back clear as a song. Maybe I shouldn't worry about my senior moment so much or is it a blip from my fidgety? Must I begin to pay better attention, one thing at a time? Certainly I must look at that calendar each morning first thing. Here in retirement I make my own schedule but live a rather uncomplicated routine. Deliberate forgetfulness or mindlessness? I have heard that simply forgetting is nothing to show concern about unless it becomes routine and or unless one does not immediately recall when reminded, as I did in horror today. That's my Halloween fright 2013 style.

Be like the fox in the pack of hounds

MY NEW 2012 BLOG JUST FOR BOOKS--wander over

Addicted to reading and writing

This blog is my outlet for words. I have always loved to read and write. I suppose I am a woman of words--too many words according to Jerry! Friends and relatives often commented about letters I would write. That's pre-email. Later closest friends encouraged me to write, always thinking somewhere inside me was a best seller book. So now in retirement one would think I have time to do that but, huh uh! Where does the time go?

My new blog dedicated solely to the books I read, review and discuss is up which will allow me to have more space here.

Follow the link above or Google Pat's Books Read and Reviewed

Quote about Books

I found this scrap clipping clearing out paperwork, there is no author, I wished I'd written it but I didn't and I don't know who did: "Your books are your autobiography; they map your history, reflect your tastes, hold emotional moments between covers."

Back Deck 2016

Me with new hat Quebec

Mountie and Me

Me in Nova Scotia, Halifax with Big Guy

Me aboard the Celebrity Summit

Cruising the North Atlantic October 2014

LaCrosse Bridges

Bridges of LaCrosse

To My Little Boy (Author Unknown)

Found this in an old Country Ideals Magazine, Vol 59, No. 3

How often as I watched you at your playI wished that through the years, you might remainA boy as upon a summer's day.Changeless and glad and unaware of pain.Memory of your laughter falls with sadness in my heart,When you were so young, so sure, so unafraid;You'd not heard there would be a time to partOr that the road leads down into the shade.Would I might have kept you from what all must learn--The doubt, the fever, the battles lost and wild.Would I might build a world that would not turnTo dust beneath the footsteps of a child!Son, this can never be I know,Yet it is out of earth that flowers grow.